156 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



Canje Creek and the Berbice. Then sending my compan- 

 ions back to Kalacoon I remained a day longer to attend to 

 the packing of the gronp material and to complete the pho- 

 tography of the young birds. Thanks to the intelligent sym- 

 pathy and great assistance of Edgar Beckett we were quickly 

 oriented and able to make use of every moment of our time. 

 In this brief visit I successfully achieved the first two objects 

 which I had in mind. The third I was compelled to post- 

 pone until another year. 



In addition to the observations I recorded seven and 

 eight years ago, I succeeded during this last visit in noting 

 certain new^ habits which help to round out the life history 

 of these strange birds. 



These I have assembled in the following section, reserv- 

 ing for a third the more general notes which I have chosen 

 to present in much the same form as I wrote them in my 

 journal in the field. The desidtory character of the notes 

 is due to the shortness of the time I was able to spend with 

 the birds. Most of the observations are new and add to our 

 general knowledge of these strange creatin-es, and to the 

 material, which at some future time I shall assemble in mono- 

 graphic form. 



The flight of the hoatzin resembles that of an overfed 

 hen ; its voice is no more melodious than the cry of a peacock, 

 and less sonorous than an alligator's roar. Its grace is ba- 

 trachian rather than avian, while the odor of its body re- 

 sembles that of no bird untouched by dissolution. Still the 

 hoatzin remains the most remarkable and interesting bird 

 living on the earth today. 



It has successfully defied time and space. For it, the 

 dial of the ages has moved more slowly than for the rest of 

 organic life, and although living and breathing with us to- 

 day, yet its world is an affair of two dimensions — a line of 

 thorny saplings threaded along the muddy banks of a few 

 tropical waters. 



